With more than 40 million smartphones shipped to India in the third quarter of 2017, India surpassed the United States to become the second-largest smartphone market, according to the research firm Canalys. Shipments in Q3 rew 23 percent year-over-year in India, Canalys said, putting it behind only China.

Canalys Research Analyst Ishan Dutt said that growth in India will continue, attributing it mainly to low smartphone penetration and the explosion of LTE.

Samsung and Xiaomi accounted for nearly half of the market in Q3, shipping 9.4 million and 9.2 million units respectively. The market is increasingly concentrated, with Vivo, Oppo and Lenovo rounding out the top five brands.

Xiaomi has done particularly well in the past year, increasing shipments by 290 percent even though the brand has struggled with mid-range devices. However, Canalys Analyst Rushabh Doshi said in a statement, "we predict Xiaomi's continued go-to-market innovations will allow it to overtake Samsung within a couple of quarters."

While the market is concentrating, Dutt noted that there are close to 100 mobile device brands sold in India.

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